Mueda
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Mueda is the largest town of the Makonde Plateau in northeastern Mozambique and the capital of the Mueda District. It was founded around a Portuguese colonial army barracks. Mueda is also the center of the culture of the Makondes, whose ebony sculptures are universally known.
Mueda is located on a high plateau, the Planalto de Mueda, where the climate is excellent, but where, because of the permeable soil, water infiltrates with great depth, making it difficult to supply drinking water. About 1970, Portugal, the ruling authority of Mozambique at the time, built a system to supply drinkable water, under the direction of the engineer Canhoto. In the 1980s, after the independence of Mozambique from Portugal, the system was rebuilt by the Mozambican government, with the assistance of UNICEF and Swiss co-operation.
[edit] Massacre of Mueda
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The town was the site of the Massacre of Mueda on June 16, 1960, when Portuguese troops fired on a demonstration claiming independence from Portugal, and threw some demonstrators into a ravine.[1] Resentment generated by these events led ultimately to independentist guerrilla FRELIMO gaining needed momentum in the outset of the Mozambican War of Independence (1964-1975). The site of the massacre is marked by a statue.
The image shown at the right is taken at sunset in the Mueda town square. It is here that the Portuguese District Administrator[2] called the peaceful demonstrators together in order for them to voice their complaints.
[edit] Images from Mueda
 Mueda Airport c. 1995 |
 Refueling station in Mueda c. 1995 |
[edit] References
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